The Morrigan
by Nightshade22
Summary: a twist on the old Little Mermaid story, sort of like She Creature only more sensual. Im very happy with how this story turned out. warning..mild lesbian content. 3 chapters already.
1. Chapter 1

_They say that the Merrows came on the backs of whales, their songs echoed through the icy depths as they traveled the freezing Seas of the Norsk lands._

_They rode beneath Viking ships, their long hair a cascade of white behind them. They were called the Rasalkas, the Havefins_

_or the Nixes by the fair haired people of Sweden and Iceland. Their beauty was as dangerous as the arctic seas, seducting as the full moon over a _

_midnight sea, dripping with white light, shimmering with the dark sensuality of a thousand white roses crushed into powdered snow. _

It was the night of the waxing moon, the night of the three ships and the return of the sailors of Eristhat the story begins. It was the night of the highest tide, where the cool grass of the Carrough Faire met with the icy seas of the Laithe Bay, and thetiny jewel green crabs basked in the light of the pregnant moon.

It was on this night that Ada snuck out of the warmth of her bed, to spy on the coming of the three ships in the bay, guided by the illume of the lighthouse. She had ran barefoot across the cooling sands and stood by the harbor, watching as the beacon of light drew in the heavy masted ships, enjoying their majesty across the waves.

She squinted in the dark and hiked up her skirts, wading in the freezing waters like a child again. Oh such defiance! She giggled to herself, if her bethroted could see her now! She trailed a hand over the waters surface and delighted in the tiny plankton that lighted up like a million stars underwater. She was only seventeen, but to be married in a month to the only man she had ever loved. She shivered slightly.

And thats when she caught sight of her...

She lay, the creature, bear breasted and pale on the stretch of beach before her, half hidden by the black rocks. The moons white light coated her already pale skin with a sheen that made her look almost ivory, and her cascade of pale, pale hair draped languidly at her sides.

Ada gaped and rushed to the womans aid, thinking of her in trouble, shipwrecked perhaps, for she looked a sight without a stitch of clothing. But as she drew closer, Ada realized what she was and the beauty and mystery that befell her mortal eyes made her sink to her knees.

"Oh my almighty lord." She whispered softly, unable to tear her eyes away.

The creatures skin was as pale as new fallen snow and tiny veins webbed an intricate design on her temples like thin cobwebs, unnoticeable till shed shift and a waft of moonlight caught directly on her skin.

She was for a second like a building drawn on paper with all the latchworks and crossbeams showing the details of their design, like a map of rivers, and channels connecting into forks and turns, an unimaginable road leading on through forever.

And those eyes, the eyes that opened slowly and stared at Ada with the intensity of a flickering flame...so blue...without an iris, just a round globe of pale pale blue, it looked as though if she blinked, water would pour from her eyes and down her cheeks.

But they didnt and there was only a slight rippling on the surface, like a drop of water touching an expanse of sea.

Her hair cascaded down her back like a spray of white water, soft curling tendrils woven together in parts withweeds and abalone, sand in her scalp and algae tinting her locks with a soft green hue.

Ada was mesmerized, lost in her beauty and slowly bent to touch the maidens skin, those eyes beckoning, urging her on...

Oh the devil has me! Ada thought bitterly, seduced by a creature so beautiful, yet it eminated the darkness of the very depths of the frozen seas itself...


	2. Chapter 2

Ada touched the maidens skin and an icy chill shot through her arm. One feeling overwhelmed her and it was cold...

The intense cold of a winters night, a cold of damp clothes and bare floors, of steel pressed against bare skin, of a mountain stream rushing through bare fingers...

All she wanted was to run home to where it was warm. But it felt as if she would never be warm again, and she wished to curl up in a ball and let it take her then and there. She started to cry, mournfully, her teeth chattering and her whole body shivering uncontrollably.

The sea maidens liquid eyes gazed at her, and it seemed like she could see right into her soul. She rose slowly, and Ada saw in amazement that it was a tail that supported her, a long curling tail of the most beautiful silver...shimmering like jewels in the night.

The sea maiden beckoned Ada to her feet, and placing a clammy hand on Adas shoulder, bent her face towards hers. Ada could smell the sea strongly now, in the sea maidens skin, in her hair, not like fish, but like salt and water and rocks, it made her think of an endless deep, of a vast expanse of blue and of sinking into icy waters.

She heard the roar of the sea in the distance, and the wind rocking the buoys making them clang and echo.

Just when she thought the sadness and despair would finally take her, that the cold and the wet and the chill would claim her soul, the sea maiden pressed her lips to hers and a warmth unlike anything she had ever experienced flowed through her body.

She opened her mouth and the heat poured in like fire, tasting of salt and briney winds, a gale roared in her ears and she clung to the sea maiden, knowing that if she let go she would surely faint from the blissfulness of the moment.

Malachy stood dumbfounded at the sight of his future bride in the arms of a maiden, caught in a passionate kiss, her fingers digging into the maidens transluscent skin, glowing like the moon on a cloudy night. He had followed Ada to see where she was off to, happy to watch her frolick in the sea like a child, even before their marriage. He was going to keep watch on his bethroted, but he didnt think..he didnt know...

He tried to choke back a scream as he watched the sea maidens silver tail, scaled like a mackarel and glittering with wetness, snake around his loves body, wrapping around her legs and waist, till its massive fin spread like a fan over her breasts. He heard Adas whimpers and saw her press her body closer to this...this...creature, wanting, needing whatever it was giving her.

Tears streamed down his face till he could take it no more, he raised his pitchfork above his head and ran down the rocks with a scream. But in a flash of silver and white, the maiden plunged back into the blackened sea, into the torrent of waves and white water, past the black rocks of the bay, into the freezing waters.

He caught his love just as she fell to the ground, her eyes glazed and gazing out into the endless horizon of the sea, her mouth open and moist with a glittering wet. He carried her limp body back to his wagon, his eyes clouded with tears, his throat hurting and burning till he forgot the cold and the winds whipping at his coat.

The screams woke him in the night, a bloodcurdling scream of misery and agony. He scrambled off the cot Adas mother had set for him by the hearth and run to her door. Adas parents were already there, their faces white with fright, they opened the door and were overwhelmed by the cold that came from inside.

The window in the small room facing the sea was thrown wide open, the curtains whipped frantically to and fro by the tempest outside, letting in the scent of the sea and the call of the waves.

Ada was sitting up on the bed, her sheets in disarray beside her. The buttons of her shirt were open, exposing her pale throat and the tops of her breasts. Her eyes were locked at the sea that howled out the open window. She moaned like a lost soul, hands raking at her hair, eyes wide and feral, legs thrashing white against the blue of her

nightdress.

Adas mother rushed to close the windows, locking them securely while aideans father stooped to light the candle beside her bed that held no flame.

''Cold!'' Aidean screamed, ''So cold!''

Her teeth were chattering and her fingers where like ice when Malachy grabbed her hand. They brought her blankets and covered her in shirts and brought her closer to the fire. Yet still she screamed of the cold till her mother broke down in tears and her father ordered Malachy to fetch the priest.

''Surely its a doctor she needs sir.'' Malachy said putting on his coat.

''Cant you see my daughter is in need of the spirit boy? I dont need a doctor to tell me my daughter may be dying!'' Adas father bellowed, his face a sheen of red in the dim firelight.


	3. Chapter 3

Later that night, the priest had kneeled by Aidea and pressed a rosary into her clenched hand. Aidea was huddled under sheets and blankets, sobbing pathetically and muttering things about the cold and the water. Malachy told them again of what he saw and this made Aideas mother cry harder,

''The Merrows have my daughter! The merrows have her soul!''

The priest muttered a prayer in Adas ear till she drifted off into a fitfull sleep. He reached into her hand for the rosary and found it to be covered in a cold wet film. Much like that covering a fish.

The sea maiden mourned for Aidea that night, clinging to the rocks in the bay as the waves roared in a tumult around her, she called to her, making the winds carry her songs into the night to search for her. She followed her into her dreams, consoling her in her thoughts until they longed for each other with a fierceness that matched the ongoing storm outside.

''I need the kiss.'' Aidea would cry out in delirium to MAlachy. ''It will cure me! MAke me warm again! Oh i am so cold...MAlachy. I am so very cold. I need her so.''

At these words Malachy would grip the edge of the table till his knuckles turn white. Gritting his teeth till they hurt in his head. Each night he would put on his coat and take down his rifle, head down to the bay and walk on the beach, gazing out into the rocks screaming for the maiden.

Knowing she was watching, knowing she could hear. Knowing she was in the rocks somewhere, behind the sharp edges peering out from beneath the cold, cold sea.

Each time he screamed for or at her, a torrent of goosebumps would spread across his body and a fear like no other would overwhelm him. He thought at times that he would have gone mad if it had not been for the bottle of rum he had taken to bringing with him on stormy nights.

Those nights when Ada would fall into screaming again from the cold she felt, those nights when the sea whipped about and he knew those were the nights when she would rise from the depths to call out to Ada, send the winds rushing into the village in search of her.

Then suddenly for months on end, the weather was fine again, no more violent storms, and Ada slowly got better.

They got married finally, in a beautiful ceremony in the city church, far from the sea town. But Ada never was the same, she never did get over the cold, and during rainy days she would stare absently out of the window and the water pouring down the panes, shivering with the racking cold of the dying.

It was as if the slightest frost drained her, and her youth was slowly draining from her...She sang songs to herself, made up excuses to was already spotless dishes just for the feel of water running through her fingers. And at supper would never touch the fish Malachy would bring for her from the market.

"But its your favorite, love." Malachy would urge her on.

"Aye," shed reply mournfully, "Twas, but now i cannah eat them tiny things...they be like babys of the sea."

And theyd exchange knowing looks that never failed to harden Malachy heart and he would make a show of eating her little babies of the sea just to spite her, as she picked at her vegetables and sipped her water quietly.

Eventually by the second dawn of their second spring, they had born a baby girl which they proudly named Siobhan after Malachys grandmother. Finally, Malachy thought happily, Ada would have something to occuppy her time.

Malachy worked in the fields and went to fish with the men some nights when they needed the extra money, and he was glad to think Ada would not be spending all her time staring out the windows or silently patching her quilts in dim candlelight, lost in the haze of thoughts.

He never felt alone on those nights at sea, and he always wished he was back on land, he felt vulnerable in the small boat in the middle of the black expanse of water. Sometimes hed hear and feel something bump agains the boat, catch a flash of silver in the water, hear a distance splash and this would freeze the marrow in his bones.

The other men would laugh and offer him a swig of rum, pat his back and shake their heads. Strangely enough whichever boat he was in held the most catch, the men would joke about the merrows being in love with him, sending them their fishes. Theyd laugh and slap their thighs.

But there were times when their nets would break from the bounty of their catch or throw some of the fish back for fear of sinking their small boat. Then the other men would dart questioning looks at Malachy while bringing in their meager nets.


End file.
